Do you have problems with the church? You’ve been hurt. Or you’ve stayed away because you can’t get the idiotic behavior of Christians out of your mind. Or you can’t take a step away from what you remember about growing up in the church into your now-adult mind to reprocess?
But what about God? Have you taken your hurts, baggage, discrepancies, and questions to him? He can handle them.
The church is imperfect because people are. I don’t say that lightly as an excuse. Bad behavior is bad behavior, both inside and outside the church. As much as some people want to ignore absolutes, there are some we can agree upon. It’s not necessarily a behavior issue but a character issue. We often try to explain away red flags away. Sometimes we’re color blind, both with ourselves and others. We excuse what we want; we admire what we want. In the process, we reveal something about ourselves.
We can’t explain away ourselves with God. And maybe that’s why it’s easier to walk away from church. Directly facing him and getting real with him, if done patiently and authentically, reveals some truths about ourselves and others we might find challenging to accept. I’m confident he won’t immediately clear up every hurt, baggage, discrepancy, and question, not because he can’t, but because he cares about our relationship with him too much to do so. He’s not as interested in a Google-search Q-and-A. He’s more interested in an ongoing ebb and flow of conversation and cultivation.
Perhaps it’s time to say, “Hello again.”
Pure Purpose 